Flame propagation over a porous media wetted with flammable liquid in a channel of finite cross section

Flame spread over a porous media soaked with flammable liquid is of practical importance in fires caused by accidental fuel spillage. This study has been carried out to improve our understanding of the flame spread mechanism over a porous bed soaked with super flash-point liquid fuel. Propanol and sand particles ranging from 0.5 to 5 mm were used as liquid fuel and porous bed, respectively. A video cinematography technique was applied to determine the rate of flame spread and combustion behaviour. Results corresponding to the flame spread over the porous bed for quiescent, assisting and opposing airflow configurations show that the flame spread rate decreases as either the particle size or the depth of porous bed increases. However, the rate of deceleration was found to be more distinct for the flame spread under airflow condition compared to quiescent condition. The flame spread rate for 39.9 mm bed depth in quiescent condition decreased from 1.2 m/s to 0.89 m/s with increasing the particle sizes from 0.5 to 5 mm. The flame spread rate became slow as the depth of the porous bed was increased